Monday, November 5, 2012

Time for answers

Not sure if you paid attention, but so far, all titles were questions. Yes, this was a stylistic attempt.
Now, it is time for answers. If we are lucky. Or more questions.
Anyway, today subject is

Awareness - Listen to the body.

I do believe I waited too much. On a lot of points.

I smoke for 5 years and had a very bad cough for a long time before I gave up.
I had an infinite count of hangovers and headache until I decided to drink responsibly. (which means, almost nothing anymore).
I had hip pain for 6 or 7 years until I decided to go see a physical therapist.
I had to reach almost 80Kg until I realized that i should limit salami consumption to the bare minimum. And Pim's.

The Enemy. The only one. Really. This guy is soooo good.

I had back pain for a countless number of years until I look into my sitting posture and raised my computer's monitors.

Some people got an interesting opinion about dependencies.
Rich Roll, my mentor in term of middle age revamp, believes:

According to Compton, Morgan’s dietary shift from a primarily plant-based diet to an entirely fast-food regimen effectively and quite rapidly replaced his healthy gut flora with a pathogenic microbial ecology that thrived specifically on the ingredients present in McDonald’s food. This new unhealthy, or “bad,” ecology of microflora simply required McDonald’s to live. Thus, it hijacked Morgan’s nervous system, sending messages to his brain and throughout his body that translated into an acute craving for more of these foods.

Basically, your brain is controlled by the flora in your stomach ;)

No comments. The guy is fit, he is certainly right.

Let s come back to body adaptation. I do believe in body adaptation. I've seen it at work. I do believe in habits and I do believe the body indulge in those. And this is a vicious circle.
Well, obviously addictions are for real, as well.

There will be signs !

However, even if the body adapts, it is only partially and it takes time. There will be signs.
Coughing. Headaches. Limping. Lost of energy.Lost of consciousness. Tons of signs.
Just have to listen to them.

If you are in pain, it’s your body telling you that something is wrong, and to lay off whatever activity you are doing that is causing the pain. So many times I have ignored the pain and have tried to “work through it”. I can tell you that from experience, this is a terrible mentality to have. Often times our ego is too big to accept that we are not invincible, or have limitations. The ego is our worst enemy, and recognizing when it is flaring up, and controlling it, is a skill that develops over time.
But, in reality, how do you do ? the sound is subtle. and it comes and goes. How do you know ?

By the way, "Listen to your body" or "Awareness" is a Yoga Pillar. I did not know. My wife told me this morning: You know, you are reinventing something they found out 3 thousands years ago. Really ? Why did I not start Yoga sooner ?